History of the development
The creation of Novopolotsk is associated with the creation in March of 1958 an oil refinery. At the site of the nearby seven villages, the construction settlement Polotsky emerged, which later grew into modern Novopolotsk. At December 1963 settlement was renamed Novopolotsk and was given the official status of city of regional subordination . Modern Novopolotsk is an industrial and scientific center of the Vitebsk region, the center of Belarusian petrochemistry. In the city «Novopolotsk Oil Refinery», which is engaged in the production of gasoline, plant «Polymir», which is engaged in the production of polyethylene, plant «Novopolotskzhelezobeton», which is engaged in the production of reinforced concrete structures are functioning.
With the collapse of the USSR, the industrial enterprises of Novopolotsk, which depended heavily in their raw material plan on the former Soviet republics, were forced to cease or significantly reduce production. Since the mid-1990s, thanks to the supply of cheap Russian oil, Novopolotsk enterprises began to restore production volumes and are now among the leading ones in the country.
Tourism potential
Novopolotsk is not only the largest republican industrial, but also the cultural center of the Republic of Belarus. In memorial complex «First Tent», a barrow of labor glory, a bas-relief monument to the first director of the oil refinery, O. A. Katorov, commemorates the creators of the city and the people who played an important role in its development. Immortalized in the city memory and fighters for the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders ( monument to the heroine of the Great Patriotic War to scout Lily Kostetskaya, memorial sign at the site of the death of the crew of the Soviet aircraft in 1944, the monument to soldiers-liberators who died during the liberation of the village of Troitskoe , the Monument to the Tomb of the Soldiers-Liberators of the 219th Guards Regiment). In 2002, a Monument to soldiers-internationalists was erected in the city.
The history of the creation and development of Novopolotsk can be found in the Museum of history and culture of Novopolotsk. The main pride of the museum exposition is a large-scale model of Novopolotsk and city-forming enterprises with transport branches. A glass bridge with a transparent floor is installed above the model - so you can imagine that you are looking at the city from a bird's eye view. Not far from the Novopolotsk Museum of History and Culture, you can see the bucket of the first excavator, which was involved in the construction of a young city.
The city holds an annual Republican Children's Song Festival «Hali halo», which is well known far beyond the borders of Belarus.
